Confetti soap

[topofmurrayhill]

Bugger!

Bugger indeed.

 

[penelopejane]

"Glycerin" rivers (really it's just the streaking, crackling or mottling of the soap -- nothing to do with glycerin) are caused by slow cooling of a soap that has gone into gel. By adding a colorant, you accentuate the streaky look, but mottling happens in uncolored soaps too -- it's just a lot less obvious.

Solutions to the problem -- don't allow the soap to gel and/or cool the gelled soap as quickly as possible. The easiest and most reliable way to avoid gel is to soap with less water (33% lye concentration seems to be a good choice). People also try to put the soap in the fridge or freezer and/or soap really cool, but these solutions are not as reliable as using less water.

Another solution is just to enjoy the mottled look. I think it's kind of neat when it happens. A century or so ago, mottled soaps were highly desired by consumers. A cheaply made soap that contains fillers (starch, washing soda, flour, etc.) won't mottle, because the fillers prevent this from happening. So one way to look at mottling is that it's proof your soap is pure and high quality.

Hi DeeAnna,

I find % lye concentration very confusing.

I like to gel my soap because I hate the circle in the middle and I thought it made them harder. If I CPOP my soap in the oven at 100* F would that negate the benefits of using a 33% lye concentration?

I am not sure if it is best to CPOP my soap or use a 33% lye concentration.

 

[DeeAnna]

You certainly can CPOP a low-water soap. It isn't an "either or" deal -- you can do both. It may not go into gel, but the warmth from CPOP will keep saponification going along at a good rate. If the soap doesn't gel, it won't have a partial gel ring.

I've also noticed that the low-water soap that I CPOP (or any soap that otherwise gets pretty warm) still gets that waxy translucent look and firm texture as if it did actually gel. I'm thinking some of that look and feel we associate with a soap that gels may actually be more about the maximum temperature the soap reaches, not so much whether it gels or not.

I personally don't see any downside to CPOP'ing a soap made with 33% lye concentration.

 

[penelopejane]

You certainly can CPOP a low-water soap. It isn't an "either or" deal -- you can do both. It may not go into gel, but the warmth from CPOP will keep saponification going along at a good rate. If the soap doesn't gel, it won't have a partial gel ring.

I've also noticed that the low-water soap that I CPOP (or any soap that otherwise gets pretty warm) still gets that waxy translucent look and firm texture as if it did actually gel. I'm thinking some of that look and feel we associate with a soap that gels may actually be more about the maximum temperature the soap reaches, not so much whether it gels or not.

I personally don't see any downside to CPOP'ing a soap made with 33% lye concentration.

Thank you. You explain things really well.

 

[bambi]

Hi DeeAnna,
I live in the tropic and the average humidity here is 90% or so. So far I did my batches with the default from the soap calc at 38% lye concentration. I had glycerin river once but I thought it was because I put too much TD to make it white. Didn't know that it caused by gelling and TD only accentuated it. I also had a very mild partial gelling case (rounded slightly darker part about to form in the middle that you can't really see).

After reading your post and other similar suggestions floating around here, I wanna try to do the 33% lye concentration. My questions are:

1. With the high humidity here plus my soaps are vegan and I don't use palm oil (for environmental reasons), would I need to water discount even more? My bastille soap and another batch with cocoa butter have nice hardness though. There is a batch with shea butter that's kinda soft with my fingerprints all over it. And I do need 2 days before take my soaps out of the mold.

2. Would sodium lactate needed? My beer soaps are also pretty firm, is it because of the sugar?

3. Sometimes I like the color when I pour the batter to the mold and don't want it to get any darker from gelling. I don't insulate but the weather here can be pretty hot up to high 90s. I read that is not a good idea to put freshly poured soap in the fridge. So how to prevent the color changing from gelling? Or should I just give up the idea and let the saponification do its own thing?

I still have other questions about this but that's all I can think of now. Sorry to the original poster if I hijack your thread. Thanks in advance

 

[BlackDog]

Hi DeeAnna,

I find % lye concentration very confusing.

I like to gel my soap because I hate the circle in the middle and I thought it made them harder. If I CPOP my soap in the oven at 100* F would that negate the benefits of using a 33% lye concentration?

I am not sure if it is best to CPOP my soap or use a 33% lye concentration.

I use 33% for most purposes, and I CPOP it sometimes. Mostly my 33% recipes won't go into gel on their own unless I use a heater FO or something, but it's easy to force it with an hour in the oven (at 150F or so) and then insulate overnight.

 

[penelopejane]

Hi DeeAnna,
I live in the tropic and the average humidity here is 90% or so. So far I did my batches with the default from the soap calc at 38% lye concentration.

Bambi,

The default in soap calc is 38% water as % of oils NOT lye concentration.
The lye concentration is the one below.
This makes a HUGE difference when discussing this topic as they are the opposite of one another.
There are many threads on the forum that discuss why it is best to use Lye concentration rather than water as % of oils. But it is really important to be clear which one you are using.

 

[bambi]

Yes, I use the one as % of total oils But I'll read more about lye concentration. Thanks.

 

[cmzaha]

I am going to do a confetti soap batch and test it realising it will take a few months to really tell if it was a success.

You will have to discover if people liked your confetti soap for the looks (easy to replicate) or the feel (not so easy to make failed soap twice!) [emoji12]

Mine was not a failed soap, and yes I duplicated it perfectly. One reason to keep good notes. My customers love it for the feel they really do not care what it looks like and I do not even like the look of confetti soap

 

[penelopejane]

Mine was not a failed soap, and yes I duplicated it perfectly. One reason to keep good notes. My customers love it for the feel they really do not care what it looks like and I do not even like the look of confetti soap

Oops! Sorry I just assumed it was like mine (a failed batch- too much colour)!
A friend of mine made a batch from a whole lot of soaps which had various FOs. All together they made a lovely scent. Not able to be repeated!

I don't mind some of the confetti soap mixes. I made mine today and will see how it turns out tomorrow.